Donna Aldredge couldn’t help but laugh at her brother’s punch line as she and her longtime partner took off masks to pose for family photos after their wedding.
In reality, the micro wedding was anything but a super spreader, and guest safety was no laughing matter.
“I didn’t feel relief until it was two weeks after the wedding, knowing we didn’t infect anybody,” Aldredge says.
Aldredge and her partner, Keli Ward, had been together 20 years when they decided to tie the knot in November after years of badgering from their 13-year-old son Eli.
“Five years ago, Keli said something, and I said, ‘It’s not like we’re married,’” Aldredge says. “Our son goes, ‘What? You’re not married?’ He was in shock. He was adamant something happen. He wanted to be the ring bearer and the best man.”
The couple planned on getting married in front of 200 congregants and family members at their church, but when the coronavirus hit, they had to re-evaluate. They downsized their list to family and select friends from church. The list dwindled to just family and then again to immediate family.
“We started thinking, ‘Should we even do this?’” Aldredge says. “We’re not young, so our parents are definitely not young. We didn’t want to have an event where people would get sick.”
They settled on a ceremony at the church with a guest list capped at 25. The couple provided masks and hand sanitizer to guests, who sat socially distanced in the pews.
“We had to not invite people that I know would have come,” Aldredge says. “They were like, ‘We completely understand.’ On some level, they might have been relieved.”
Aldredge was not going to stream the wedding on Facebook Live, but she changed her mind after an older woman from church urged her to reconsider.
“I’d never done it before and thought it would be a pain in the butt, but the woman said it was really easy,” Aldredge says. “If this old lady is asking me to do a live video of our wedding, it’s selfish of me not to do that. I’m glad she shamed me into posting it live.”
Several friends tuned in to watch as Eli walked his moms down the aisle. Viewers sent pictures of themselves watching at home with popcorn or while they were shopping at the farmers market.
“It changed how it would have been, but it was still awesome,” Aldredge says.
